


His Blessing

by jedicallie (writergirlie)



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-20
Updated: 2010-02-20
Packaged: 2017-10-07 10:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writergirlie/pseuds/jedicallie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke realizes that Leia is in love with Han</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Blessing

She had said nothing the entire time he had been speaking to Lando.

 

Leia hadn’t spoken much, really, not since he’d been brought into the carrier and rushed to sick bay, where half a dozen medi-droids immediately swarmed around him, needles protruding out of their metallic hands. Leia refused to leave his side, even when the droids tried their best to shoo her away. She shadowed them at each step and asked every question under the sun to ensure that he would get the best possible care.

 

When the drugs had finally entered his system, giving him a blessed respite from that blinding, relentless pain, she had sat at his bedside.  He remembered her caressing his forehead, speaking to him in low, hushed tones--words he couldn’t really absorb at the time, as he faded in and out of consciousness. He had been concentrating hard on her voice, taking in that familiar timbre and pitch, and all those inflections and cadences that were uniquely hers. In time, he fell asleep listening to her, a dreamless sleep, untainted by thoughts of Vader or his revelations.

 

He awoke murmuring her name. She had been standing by the window, her arms folded across her chest and head bowed low. She came to his side immediately, and as the droid worked on him, she was quiet, only watching the scene with a stillness he often seen in her after a particularly bloody battle had taken its toll.

 

He watched her when the comlink crackled with Lando’s voice, saw her smile at the sound of Chewie’s well-placed wailing, and for that brief moment, she seemed at peace.

 

But only for that moment.

 

It seemed they had stood in front of this window now for an eternity. When he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she had not shrugged it off; this had felt like the most natural thing in the world.

 

He knew where her thoughts were.

 

“Leia,” he said, breaking the long silence between them, “we’ll find him.”

 

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. She didn’t break her gaze to look at him, and for a long time, he thought she would not answer.

 

But then she did.

 

“I know.”

 

He watched her face, watched her draw breath and fight to keep her shoulders from shaking as she did. It was the first time, he realized, that he had ever looked at her--_really_ looked at her--because if he had before, he would have understood long before now. The pain she wore on her face, this anguish, belonged to one man, and one man only. And if he had known it deep down, it was only now that he could recognize it and accept it.

 

“You love him,” he said. “Don’t you?”

 

“Yes...”

 

There was remorse in her voice, regret. Was she sorry for having to hurt him with the truth? It would be just like Leia to be that way. But there was no need for it. He had given up the fight for her heart long ago. Somewhere along the line the feelings had deepened, and changed. There was a bond between them that he had never experienced in his life--and probably never would again--but it was a bond that grew out of a different kind of love.

 

He knew that now.

 

“Luke, I... I never meant to... You know I’d never hurt you for the world...”

 

He smiled, and drew her into an embrace. He felt her collapse into his arms, as if finally releasing the heavy weight she had balanced on her shoulders in all this time.

 

“You didn’t,” he whispered. “You never could.”

 

She pulled away and looked up at him. “I do love you, you know. But it’s just...”

 

“Not the same... I know, Leia. I know.” He smiled, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. “When we find him--and you know we will--you just tell him...”

 

“What?”

 

“You just tell him what a lucky man he is.”

 

She laughed softly. “You’re amazing, Luke Skywalker.”

 

He took her in his arms once more and they both turned to the window, watching the swirls of stars that passed them by.

 


End file.
